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Re: Angry Bees

Originally Posted by bmoore

I am gleaning much from the discussion, and I am beginning to think I may not have AHB bees but just bees with AHB strain, as I certainly don't have clouds follow me. However, the other aspect of this is the difficulty of requeening a hot hive. Finding the queen is a challenge when the bees are so upset, and I think Sergey's tips are useful in approaching potentially fussy hives.

i had a colony last year that was too hot for my liking. it was a 10 frame nuc that only had about five frames of bees.

i busted them down first into two five frame nucs, found the queen and killed her, and made sure there were no queen cells.

i went back a week later and killed the queen cells they had made.

got two new queens, which were accepted, and both nucs turned into pretty good colonies.

i'm guessing that your new queen was replaced by the mean bees with one of their own.

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives

Re: Angry Bees

The AHB genetics are a part of our area (per Texas A&M). They typically don't dominate quickly hence the advice to requeen frequently. Many areas of Texas are moving back into severe to extreme drought conditions which gives the foragers little to do but hang out & intimidate intruders. I have a hive that has become very hot & will requeen in early May. I use a combination of light smoke when looking for the queen & sugar syrup which helps to keep the bees on the comb a little subdued while working them but they are still pretty rough.

Re: Angry Bees

John, I heard from the weather news that this year's drought is worse than last year in Texas
esp. in the central regions running north to south. I am not sure if your area has
lots of rains this year. I already planted pollen and nectar plants for them all season
long just in case. We are up to 100 also every summer. Anything will help them going when in a dearth, right.

Re: Angry Bees

I set up 2 hives in 07 & the on & off drought has only yielded two small harvests which is no big deal compared to the damage to the trees & wildfires. We're in a significant rain deficit now but because of the cool weather it hasn't been that damaging. Some rain passed through yesterday & some more forecast tomorrow so we'll see. I planted some ball clover about 4 yrs ago & had one good spring bloom & planted some vitex but it did not make it. When I first bought the rural property 12 years ago it rained so much that I was complaining to a local & his response was that the "old-timers" never complain about the rain. I am now that "old-timer" & I am not going to complain until the water gets above my nose.

Re: Angry Bees

I have a hive that has just passed my tolerance threshold. They follow us 100 yards back to the house. They attack our housemates (who should be free of alarm pheromone) 200 feet from the hive if they are angry after an inspection. I've been told hot bees are more productive so was going to give these a shot but they are strange buggers that put all of their resources into making bees and produce no surplus honey. We gave them a super and they're filling it with pollen. Did an artificial swarm split yesterday as they had 10 capped swarm cells and were ready to fly. Will be requeening both halves...

Re: Angry Bees

>. I've been told hot bees are more productive so was going to give these a shot

I think hot bees that are more productive are just robbers. I see no connection between productivity and lack of civility...

I have never noticed any correlation between bee temperament and production, it seems random. But I asked a mentor that has kept bees for 50+ years and here is his response... and I quote: "I thought that for about 10 years until I figured out that I left the meaner bees alone a lot more, the most productive hives were the ones that I wasn't chicken scratching around in all the **** time. Pinch the mean'uns and leave the rest of them closed and you'll get better production."

Re: Angry Bees

My bees went into winter last fall year and were very very docile. I opened my hive on a very nice weekend about a week ago and it was like a totally different colony. IN MY FACE MEAN!! They have a great strength and quantity to them and I believe that they will need to be split this spring. Does anyone know what could be causing the severe aggression? I hope I'm not Queenless or africanized. it was about 65 degrees out & calm the day I opened it up, with plenty of food stores left. Has anyone else had the same problem?

Re: Angry Bees

I read here that "he had to smoke them off his face". Well the smoke should be used to settle the hive not to clear his face. Smoke, in my yard takes some time to affect the bees. At first they will buzz loudly and blow the smoke out of the hive. Wait 5, or ten, then move calmly. First, why all this inspecting?
I have a cutout, well it is a swarm that had a 10 comb nest, and the combs got pretty well beat up with the capture and rubber banding and placing in a hive body. They have a very messy home. Maybe over the next three years I'll replace the crooked comb one at a time. Maybe not, they seem happy with it so I'll let them be bees. I did look up the queen and saw she was laying a good pattern.
Get screened inner covers, that way you can remove the outer cover and not get hit with hot bees, Same with the entry, keep it small to restrict robbing and mass attack if they are hot. With the outer top off try to smoke them down in the frames, Use a spray bottle with sugar water, Don't lift that screen until you have calmed the hive. Just don't! Slowly slide the screen off. If you cannot calm them this way get a new queen.
My 2 cents.